Rose looks to recreate magic of ‘98
SOUTHPORT, United Kingdom: World number one Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy will play together in the first two rounds of the British Open at Royal Birkdale, it was announced on Monday.
Johnson and McIlroy will play together with former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa in a group that will start their opening round at 2:48pm (1348 GMT) on Thursday.
The trio will then tee off at 9:47am on Friday on the links in the town of Southport, just north of Liverpool on the north-west coast of England.
McIlroy won the Open not far from Birkdale at Hoylake in 2014 but comes into this year’s championship in poor form, having missed the cut at both the Irish Open and the Scottish Open in the last two weeks.
The world number four also missed the cut at the US Open, as did Johnson, who has not played since then.
World number two Hideki Matsuyama of Japan is in a group with US Open champion Brooks Koepka and Southport native Tommy Fleetwood, ranked 14th in the world and one of the form players on the tour at the moment.
They will go out at 10:09am for Thursday’s first round.
World number three Jordan Spieth of the United States and last year’s Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden will play together alongside Kim Si-Woo of South Korea in the first two rounds, teeing off at 9:47am on Thursday.
Another group sure to attract the galleries will be the trio of Masters champion Sergio Garcia, world number six Jason Day of Australia and 2015 Open champion Zach Johnson.
Mark O’Meara, who won The Open at Birkdale in 1998 and is now 60, will have the honour of starting off the tournament when he tees off at 6:35 am on Thursday. — AFP SOUTHPORT, United Kingdom: After Justin Rose finished fourth in the British Open at Royal Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998, it seemed inevitable that he would soon go on to win the Claret Jug.
But he returns to the Southport links for this week’s championship having never subsequently managed to match that performance as a professional.
It is little wonder that Rose, now 36, spoke of “unfinished business” on Tuesday as he prepared for Thursday’s first round, when he will go out in a group with former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Justin Thomas.
“It surprises me after all these years that is still the best finish,” he said of his performance in miserable weather in 1998, when Mark O’Meara eventually won the title in a play-off against Brian Watts.
Rose equalled the record low score for an amateur at The Open with a second-round 66, and there was a huge roar when he holed a pitch from the rough at the 18th on the Sunday for a birdie to secure a tie for fourth place.
“I don’t want to say that if I don’t win this it’s going to be a huge sort of hole in my career, but it was the one tournament that even before I finished fourth here as an amateur, I got to final qualifying at the age of 14 and created a bit of a story then.
“It’s definitely been a championship that I’ve had great moments in. And to win it would kind of close the book in a way on my Open Championship story.”
Rose — who warmed up for Birkdale by attending Roger Federer’s victory over Marin Cilic in the Wimbledon final on Sunday — has had mixed results since winning Olympic gold in Rio last year.
He was runner-up to Sergio Garcia at the Masters in April but missed the cut at the recent US Open.
Having only ever won one Major, at the US Open in 2013, Rose admits he still uses his 1998 display as a model.
“The freedom I had that particular week, the confidence I had in my short game, the innocence in which I played the game, I think, is kind of still a model.” “But, yeah, when I do look back I do marvel at how I was able to compete so closely down the stretch, and finished within two shots of winning an Open Championship at the age of 17.”
“I guess for me it was a glimpse into what my potential is. And hard work will create another chance here and there.”